(Lantliv)
Almost Easter, the first extended weekend of spring! For many people here a good reason to visit their summerhouse and make everything ready for the summer, meet the family, eat Easter eggs etc. Well pretty much the same as in Holland, just a little different. You decorate your house for instance by putting birch twigs in a vase and decorating them with artificial feathers in lively colour’s, preferably in yellow. You see witches who flew against the walls here and there (yes, that is definitely different!) and girls dress up as Easter witches (discarded clothes, brightly coloured headscarves and red-painted cheeks). They go from house to house in the neighbourhood and present the occupants with paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in return. How disappointing for our two boys, so girlish! Why witches and no monsters? We made it right to them by some treasure/egg hunting since we moved here.
The Swedish “Easter buffet tradition“ is a good one, we all think so. The best of a buffet is that you can take what you like best. This one we made for last year’s Easter buffet, especially for our friends who came here to visit us. We all liked this Swedish recipe:
8 portions:
Liquor
2 dl vinegar essence, 12%
4 dl cold water
3 dl granulated sugar
Herring pickling
2 cans pickling herring a 420 grammes
½ leek
1 yellow union
2 msk chive
½ dl dill
1 tablespoon crossed allspice
2 tsp crossed pink pepper
2 bay leaf
On top: chive and dill
1.Boil all ingredients for the “liquor” in a pan and let cool.
2.Rinse the herring and cut in pieces, 1-1 1/2 cm.
3.Clean and slice the leeks. Peel and slice the onion. Chop the chives and dill.
4.Layer the herring, the onions, all spice and pink pepper in a glass jar or bowl.
5.Add the bay leaves and pour over the now cold liquor. Let the herring stand cold at least one day!
When serving, garnish with chopped chives and dill. Sprinkle over a little pink pepper as decoration.